Descent into Darkness
by generalderpy014
Summary: The clone wars had been going on for years with no end in sight. The galaxy's inhabitant are sick and tired of war, so many lives had been lost, so many worlds laid in ruins, but this is just the beginning. The beginning of a much darker age, a age where war is the only constant, a age that would never end. Mega crossover, AU, please review thanks!
1. Prologue

"I have failed," said the Father with a cough, "The barrier will soon dissolve." Anakin pushed the limp body of the Son away. Holding his shoulder Anakin helped the Father to sit up, earning more coughs from him.

"What is the barrier?" Asked Obi-wan Kenobi.

"This place is not only a conduit of the force, it also acts as a generator, generator of the barrier. The barrier is created and maintained by the force. To separate us, to isolate us," replied the dying Father.

"From who? Why isolate us?" Asked Anakin.

"From monsters, from evils," whispered the Father.

"The sith?" Asked the approaching Asoka.

"No... If only they... were... sith..." Said the Father with his last breath.

"What is he talking about?" Asked Asoka.

"I don't know snips, I don't know..." Replied Anakin as he trialed off.


	2. Chapter 1

A tall young man stood on top of what seems to be a grass hill. His short black hair was flattened against his head by a strong wind. His slightly tan skin was covered with dust. The man looked around, shifting his gaze from side to side.

War

Everywhere Neimoxin looked there is war

Mighty fleets battled among the stars

Endless armies waged war on uncountable battlefields

Armies of darkness

Armies of malevolence

Armies of death

Death

Everywhere Neimoxin looked there is death

Civilians, soldiers, and creatures of nightmare

All perish under the massive grinder that is war

Destruction

Everywhere Neimoxin looked there is destruction

Ships of all size and shape float aimlessly as broken husks

Great cities lay in ruins, its buildings burnt, its population slaughtered

Entire planets are left as molten spheres hanging lifelessly in space, cleansed of life

Suffering

Everywhere Neimoxin looked there is suffering

Countless sentients mourn for the death of countless more

Refugees fled from a war zone only to arrive at another

Friends lost, families broken, civilizations crushed

A universe that knows only war

Neimoxin cannot look anymore, this is too much, even for a man who had seen as much as he did. He opened his eyes, ending the meditation. This the first time he had a force vision, and it was something he would not like to experience again. Never before did he feel so much suffering and despair.

_What caused this? Is it the dark side? _

The cause is not important though. The meaning and implications behind this vision is much more important. The clone wars had been raging on for a little over seven years, even until now there is no end in sight. Could the vision be the future of the galaxy? Neimoxin certainly hope it won't be.

Standing up from his bed Neimoxin looked around the room, there is nothing much. A desk, a chair, a closet and a holodisplay. Stretching his arms he walked towards the metallic table, grabbing a cup of water and taking a few sip.

_Time to check our progress_ thought Neimoxin, wanting to shift his focus away from the dark vision.

* * *

"Good afternoon admiral Markious," greeted Neimoxin as he walked onto the bridge of _Radiant Justice_, a Mandator II-class Star Dreadnaught, flagship of the 319th Rasuuna expeditionary fleet. The _Radiant Justice_ and 49 more vessels of its kind was a new addition to the fleet, coming straight from Kuat Drive Yards. These massive 8 kilometer long warship prove to be an invaluable asset to have against the seperatists.

"Afternoon general," replied Markious. The admiral was a relatively short man, with nicely combed brown hair and pale white skin. "I believe you would like to hear about the latest update?"

"Indeed I would, please continue."

"Very well, two and a half hours ago I received a report from one of our outpost on Zakssha. Apparently a group of scavengers think it was a good idea to go to Hekina, they were fired upon immediately when they exit hyperspace. Only a few survive, they then fled to Zakssha. If their account is to be trusted then this unknown foe have a powerful ally."

"The seperatists?"

"Yes"

"This is worse than I thought, now this unknown race allied themselves with the seperatists which made this mission much harder." Neimoxin sighed, "any information on our enemy?"

"We still don't know much about them, the descriptions of their ships does not resemble anything we know of."

"I will need to talk to the scavengers, how long before we arrive at Zakssha?"

"About 4 hours"

"Thank you for the update Markious, please get a shuttle prepared when we arrived, I want to talk to the scavengers personally."

"Consider it done my friend. You look concerned, is there something bothering you?"

"Nothing, nothing much, just a rather unpleasant vision I had. I will be in the intelligence room if you have more updates," with that Neimoxin left the bridge.

* * *

A hologram of a large reptilian creature with red scales was projected from the holoprojector. It was standing on two legs, its short arms holding what appears to be a blaster and a long tail helping it to balance. The creature wore little armor, unlike the clone troopers who have full body armor.

With a press of a button the holovid start to play. The creature ran across a street filled with rubbles, firing its blaster at unseen targets from time to time. By the time the creature crossed half the street's length it was already hit 3 times by blue blaster bolts. It was obvious those bolts came from clone troopers' weapons. It only take 1 such bolt to penetrate a clone trooper's plastoid body armor, yet all the bolts manage to do was to create large scorch mark on the creature's thick hide and make it angrier. It continue to dash down the street, but now more and more fire was concentrated on it, until finally one bolt hit the creature in eyes and it drop to the floor, dead.

"What are you?" Asked Neimoxin, speaking to himself.

This is the seventh time he had watched this recording. The only clue the Republic had on this mysterious enemy. They came to the Republic's attention two weeks ago, when they invaded Hekina. Hekina is a rather insignificant world, one among the Republic's hundreds of billions of member worlds. It was located at the extreme edge of the Republic, in the outer rim, south of coruscant. Housing a population of one and a half billion it was relatively undeveloped when compared to city planets such as coruscant.

This by no means stop the Republic from answering Hekina's call for help though. As soon as the distress message was received by the local sector command a task force was sent to help the planet. Thinking it as a simple pirate raid the task force sent was small, composing of a mere thousand vessels. The task force never report back.

An investigation was started, the distress message reexamined, nothing new could be gained from it. The message was a simple "Planet under invasion by unknown force, send immediate assistance". This is when the 319th Rasuuna expeditionary fleet was called to investigate. Commanded by Neimoxin and Markious the 319th had a very impressive record, winning hundreds of engagements with seperatist and pirate forces. With fifty times more ships than the original task force sent to help Hekina it seems that this was an over reaction, what can mere pirates do anyway? Then again, these supposed pirates managed to jam all communication to and from Hekina and destroy a task force of ten thousand ships. It may not be much compared to fleets fielded by both the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems but it is still an extremely impressive feat when done by pirates. Now it made more sense, these pirates are supported by the CIS.

"Sorry to interrupt general," said an approaching clone, "we had just arrived at Zakssha, your shuttle is ready."

"I'll be in the hangar shortly, thank you," replied Neimoxin, "time to find out more," he mumbled to himself.

A shuttle flew out of Radiant Justice's hangar, accelerating towards the orange and blue planet below. A figure could be seen talking to a hologram within the shuttle.

"Admiral, please maneuver the fleet into a defensive position over the planet, we are not far away from Hekina and for all we know, the seperatists may choose to strike here next," said Neimoxin.

"It will be done general," replied Markious, "might I suggest something?"

"Go on"

"We can send a few ships to Hekina and do some recon, that would give us some idea of the strength of our enemy."

"Wouldn't that be risky? They manage to destroy a force of ten thousand republic ships, and none manage to send out a message."

"I'm not sending in any normal ship, do you know what new ships they gave us last time?"

"Aside from the fifty Mandator class what else have they given us?"

"A stealth ship, once cloaked it cannot be detected by almost all sensors."

"A stealth ship! Why am I not informed?"

"You were, but you aren't really paying attention at the time."

"Hmmm, next time if I'm not paying attention please inform me again."

"I will take note of that, how about the mission?"

"Very well, proceed with the mission, but please do ask them to be careful. We don't want to loose ships needlessly."

"Worry not general, I will give you the report as soon as they come back," with that the transmission terminated.

* * *

"Prepare for atmospheric reentry," announced the pilot. The shuttle shuddered as it entered Zakssha's atmosphere. After a few minutes it decelerate and flew past large forests of orange vegetation and head towards the capital city, a large conurbation stretching for hundreds of kilometers. Taking the priority lane it avoided the busy air traffic, flying between tall building not unlike those seen on Coruscant, though much smaller. Soon enough the shuttle reached its destination and landed. Their destination was a building stretching a kilometer into the sky, it was used by the government of Zakssha for administration work. Its bright red coloring made it stand out from the surrounding towers.

As Neimoxin exit the craft the governor came forward to greet him.

"Hello jedi, I am governor Handar, the presence of you and your fleet is very welcomed. You must understand that the outer rim is very dangerous," said Handar as she hold out her hand. The governor is a tall blue Twi'lek female, she had an air of confidence around her. That is probably the reason she became the governor, a position rarely held by Twi'lek females in the outer rim.

"Greetings Handar, I am Neimoxin, it is an honor to meet you. I am glad to hear that our presence is welcomed, not all planets are as... friendly. " Replied Neimoxin as he shook her hand.

"Those planets are probably some core world that lies deep within Republic territory and never need to deal with pirates, slavers and the seperatist."

"That may be true for some, but others view the presence of the grand army as an military occupation."

"Wait till they get occupied by the seperatist then, lets see how their attitude change."

"You seem to have great dislike of such worlds, may I know why?"

"Life is hard and dangerous out here. My family used to be slaves, it was my parents that started a revolution, and with the help of the Republic we are able to get free."

"I see"

"Common, lets talk to those survivors," said Handar as she turned and walked into the building behind her.

After a brief 10 minute walk the two arrived at a circular room. The room was brightly lit with a circular table in the middle. Around the table sat survivors from Hekina, they all have a grim look on their face, a look that Neimoxin seen far too often.

"Hello my friends," announced Handar, "this is general Neimoxin, a jedi master sent by the Republic to help us. For him to do so he will need more information on our enemy. He wish to ask you some questions, I hope you will cooperate, thankyou." She then turned to Neimoxin and said "I have other matters to attend to, I will need to leave first, goodbye general."

"Thankyou Handar, to effectively combat this enemy I need to know as much about them as possible. Their weapons, their biology anything, they are not known to the Republic. So please do share if you have any knowledge on them," said Neimoxin as Handar left the room.

"I think they call themself the Ssi Ruuk. At least that's what everyone said," replied a Bothan.

"That is true," added a Twi'lek, "while the Republic may not have any knowledge on them, the outer rim know of their existence for quite some time."

"Indeed, they are quite infamous here, heard rumors about how they had already invaded hundreds of worlds," voiced another Twi'lek.

"Hundreds? How is that possible? Surely the Republic will notice such a menace," said Neimoxin.

"We are in the outer rim, bordering with wild space even. There are lots of things that manage to not catch the Republic's attention," said the Bothan.

"Still, invading hundreds of planets is not what people do everyday," said Neimoxin, "how about their weapons? Combat abilities? Anyone here have a rough idea?"

"I think Bador here can answer that, he saw quite some action" replied a Rodian As he pointed at Bador, a Nautolan.

"I... I... They... The Ssi Ruuks are very aggressive, they stand on two legs with a tail behind. They are very fast and very stong, they can get hit repeatedly by blasters and still keep fighting. I saw this one Ssi Ruuk ripping a clone apart with its claws, it was... It was... terrifying. And their shrieks, oh god... the shrieks... so loud and ear piercing. They have several kind of blasters, some stun their targets while others just kill. I... I don't want to talk about it anymore," answered Bador.

"Its alright Bador, its alright now, you will be safe here," comforted Neimoxin.

"Alright? Alright!? My family and friends are probably all dead now and you say its alright!?" Shouted Bador.

"Calm down Bador, get a hold on yourself," said the Rodian.

"I'm sorry, I mean no offence," said Neimoxin

"I... Sorry, I just... I need some time alone," said Dabor as he stood up from his seat and left the room.

"Please forgive my friend," said the Rodian, "the invasion hit him pretty hard."

"I understand, loosing friends and family is always hard," replied Neimoxin, "He have my condolences."

"We all lost someone that day... From what I heard it is better to die than to be captured alive," said the second Twi'lek.

"Are you talking about... That?" Asked a human.

"Yes," replied the second Twi'lek.

"What exactly is 'that'?" questioned Neimoxin.

"A dark ritual, it is said that these monsters will perform this on anyone they capture, it suck out the very life force in the person. It is an unthinkable torture, yet these monster claim it to be a joy beyond imagination," responded the human.

"How do you... Suck life out of someone? Or do they suck out the force, no that is impossible," mumbled Neimoxin to himself.

"This is an unrivaled evil, not even Hutt crime lords subject their captives to such suffering. Not surprising for a species that came from the unknown region," commented the first Twi'lek.

The Bothan Snorted, "you think this is bad? You think this is the worst the unknown regions had to offer? There are worse things out there, eldrich monsters, empires of evil man, aliens bent on the destruction of civilization itself. No, these Ssi Ruuks are nothing in comparison."

"Slow down, slow down. You say they came from the unknown regions? How is that possible? The hyperspace disturbance prevent anything from entering or coming out. That's why it remain unexplored, also what is all those fairy tales about the evils from the unknown regions," asked Neimoxin, his curiosity piqued.

"You are misinformed jedi, the disturbance is not an impenetrable wall, there are still ways to travel past it, although its very hard and risky. Nonetheless, there are still many people who took the risk and brave the disturbance. Many failed but some succeeded, some even tried to set up colonies in the unknown region and succeeded. Although in the past few decades less and less ships came out and almost all contact with the colonies are lost," replied the Bothan.

"Go on," said Neimoxin.

Taking a deep breath the ? continued, "you claim the evils I described to be fairy tales, but I assure you that they are not. I personally saw one in action. Green hulking beasts, crude and barbaric. They invaded one of the colony I mentioned before, I was there eleven years ago. Luckily I was close to the spaceport, I manage to get away in time. Others are not that lucky. Never heard from the planet again, nor did I ever went back to the unknown regions."

"I see... Lets get back to topic, anyone here knows the space capabilities of the Ssi Ruuk, and their allies?" Asked Neimoxin.

"I do," answered a Tholothian, "I went together with the others to scavenge the battlefield. We were shot at as soon as we exit hyperspace, I don't know their space capabilities. I'm not a fighter, but I know that the Confederacy is helping them, can't miss their frigates."

"Hmm... Anyone got more to add?" Asked Neimoxin again. After a few seconds of silence he said, "thank you for all your help, have a nice day and farewell."

* * *

"I see that you are back," commented admiral Markious.

"Indeed I am," said Neimoxin as he walked onto the busy bridge, "how did the recon go?"

"Not sure," replied the admiral, "if things go as plan they will report back in twelve minutes."

"Then we shall wait."

So they waited, as the minutes passed by both the admiral and the jedi master became more and more anxious, will the mission succeed? A question that repeats itself continuously in their mind.

"Sirs, the recon ships made contact, the mission was a success!" Announced a communication officer. The bridge broke into a chorus of cheers, Neimoxin and Markious smiled, now they will have a more solid report on their enemy. A vital thing to have if they were to fight a battle against this foe.

"Officer, please ask the recon ships to send a detailed report as soon as possible, I will examine it in the intelligence room, thankyou," said Neimoxin, "come admiral, we shall see what our enemy had to offer."

The two turned and walked out of the bridge, as they walked through the hallway of Radiant Justice Neimomxin brief the admiral on what he had learned from the survivors. Although there is still not much information it will have to do. After sometime walking and a turbolift ride they arrived at the intelligence room.

"Have the recon ships send in the report?" Asked Markious.

"Yes admiral, it came in just a moment ago," answered an officer as he handed the two holopads containing the report.

"Thank you," said Neimoxin as he took the holopad from the clone.

The two read through the report, their face turning darker as they read on. The situation was bad, very bad.

"Over three million capital ships..." mumbled the admiral, "we can't take on that, we are just an expeditionary force."

Neimoxin chuckled, "outnumbered sixty to one isn't that bad, I've faced greater odds before."

"If you are talking about what happened on Bastuer, that doesn't count. You were running a blockade, not fighting a battle, and don't forget you were given some help."

"Oh come on Markious, have some sense of humor, you don't need to be this serious all the time."

Markious rolled his eyes, "well I do believe that this is not the right time, I will be going to ask for reinforcement immediately."

"You would never change would you?" Asked Neimoxin as the admiral walked towards a communication panel. Knowing he won't get a reply from the older man Neimoxin return his focus back to the report. As he read down he noticed something particularly interesting, he turned his head and called out, "admiral, you better come and see this."

"What is it this time Neimoxin, can it wait after I contact sector command?"

"If you want to give an incomplete report to sector command then yes, it can wait."

"Fine, I'm comming."

"Read this section," said Neimxin as he handed the holopad over.

After a few moments Markious commented, "a battle... But against who? This was not the battle against the taskforce, the remains of the ships are still giving out lots of radiation, too much to be from a battle that long ago."

"Curious isn't it, this cannot be fought between the separatist and our invaders, their ships are still coexisting peacefully in orbit."

"But who could have done this? There are a lot of wreckages."

"Not the Republic nor the separatist, a new player."

"We already have one big problem, why must there be another," complained Markious.

"I thought you like puzzles? Lets report to sector command."

"Puzzles... I hate puzzles," mumbled the admiral as the two move to report to sector command.

* * *

"Three million ships!" exclaimed a middle aged human male. He, like Markious, have pale skin, although he is much taller. The man had golden hair and a beard not unlike that of the famous jedi master, Obi Won Kenobi. "That is an entire fleet! The separatist do not operate in such numbers in this area!"

"They do now master," said Neimoxin.

"I will try to find a fleet that is currently available and send them to help, but that would take some time, most of our fleets are currently engaged or are already guarding important planets."

"Time that we don't have general Felon," said Markious, "that separatist fleet is clearly preparing for an invasion, the only thing stopping them from attacking right now is some mysterious attacker that did quite some damage."

"I understand ad..." Markious cut the master jedi off, "I don't need your understanding, the separatist is going to strike as soon as they recover. We need reinforcement and we need it now!" said the admiral with quite an aggressive tone.

"Markious calm down!" Said Neimoxin loudly.

"Sorry, I... I'm just worried"

"Its alright admiral, I promise that I will send the reinforcement you need as soon as possible."

"Thankyou general."

"Master, can I have a word with you?" Asked Neimoxin.

"Of course you can, now what is it?"

"I will take my leave first," said Markious. He left as soon as he finished saluting.

"So what is bothering you Neimoxin?"

"I had a vision a few days ago. I saw endless war, death, destruction and suffering. Master, I saw the very galaxy burning, evils that make the separatists look like saints!" Neimoxin ended in a distressed tone.

"You are not the only one," Felon sighed, "I heard from the jedi council that many others had similar dark visions."

"But... This... How... I thought it was only me, this can't be true!"

"Just because many other jedi shared the same vision does not mean it must be true. Remember my teaching, the future is ever changing, do not be so transfixed on a single vision. Indeed we should act, but blindly guessing and worrying will not help."

"I... Understand, what should I do?"

"For now we must wait, this vision may be the manipulation of the sith. Although many jedi also sense a great disturbance bordering the unknown region. The foe you were sent to investigate may give us some clue to the meaning of this vision."

"I will do my best to investigate master."

"I know you will, be careful out there," said Neimoxin's master with a smile.

Neimoxin returned the smile, "I will, farewell." With the press of a button the transmission terminated.

* * *

Neimoxin walked silently back towards the bridge, deep in thought. Doubt and fear plague his mind as he thought about the possible future, those feelings were soon expelled though, as he calmed his mind and recite his master's teaching. Soon enough Neimoxin walked passed the opened blast door that lead to the bridge, standing in the middle of what could only be called controlled chaos was the admiral. Neimoxin allow a smile to show on his face, Markious was already giving orders to prepare for a battle.

"I see that you had already started to plan our defenses," said Neimoxin.

"You really like to state the obvious don't you?" Replied Markious half laughing.

Neimoxin walked towards the holoprojector with all the tactical readouts, "What can I say? Now I think we should deploy more troops into this area, they can create a choke point and..."

* * *

Clone commander Buzz stood atop a crate overlooking his men evacuating the civilians, it had been five days since the request for reinforcement was sent. True to master jedi Felon's word reinforcement was en route, but it won't come on time. According to the latest reconnaissance report the separatist were already on the move. Soon they will arrive at Zakssha, it will be the 319th duty to hold the separatist off until the reinforcement arrive. Buzz, his legion and 4 other legions were assigned to a small city located at the southern hemisphere of Zakssha.

The air was filled with fear, Buzz could almost taste it, the civilians walked passed carrying their most valuable belongings. Fearful whispers and mummers could be heard from the crowd, there is no doubt that all of them had heard stories about separatist occupations. A few shouts were heard from the crowd, and soon enough a worried looking mother came into Buzz's sight.

"Muli! Muli! Where are you!" Her panic calls went unanswered. Buzz jumped down and walked towards the Twi'lek. "Who are you calling ma'am?"

"Its my child, I lost him in the crowd, oh god what kind of mother am I? Can you please find him?"

"I'll do my best ma'am" Buzz turned and walked towards his men, the mother followed close behind. "Swift, Box Head, I need..." Before he could finish his sentence his comm link crackled to life. "Commander, I found this kid called Muli who was looking for her mother, where shall I bring him?"

"Ah, good work trooper, the kid's mother is right beside be, come to my location."

"Sir, yes sir" came the reply before Buzz cut the comm and switch back to the external speaker, "One of my men had located your child, he will be here soon."

"Oh thank you so much!"

"Just doing my job ma'am."

Soon enough A clone trooper emerged from the masses of people, carrying a child who had tear filled eyes. With his audio enhancers, Buzz could even hear her soft sobs. The child's mother was pacing around the area, anxiety radiating outwards. As soon as she turned and saw her child her mood changed like rollercoaster, she ran towards the trooper, shouts of joy leaving her mouth.

"Muli! There you are, thank you thankyou so much!" She said as she fetch her child over from the clone. With a few more thank yous the pair disappeared into the sea of civilians.

"Do you know where they are evacuated to commander?" Asked Box Head.

"The city of Ancouvos, most fortified city in this region. They will be safer there," came the reply, "now, we need to distribute some supplies to those who choose to stay behind, we can't force them to leave, but we can keep them from starving. Lets move it troopers!"

"Yes sir!" Shouted all the clones in the vicinity and they started moving.

* * *

Tension can be felt in every corner of _Radiant Justic_e's bridge, the separatist and the unknown alien menace is coming, every single sentient being in the Zakssha system knew it. The problem is when. For eighteen hours the armed forces of the Republic was on high alert. The fleet was in position, ground troops had fortified their positions, everyone is ready for battle. Suddenly, the sensor officer shouted out, the words came like a thunderstorm. "Enemy fleet is dropping out of hyperspace!"

"Here they come," whispered Markious before shouting, "All men battle stations!"

The bridge brust into motion, officers started to shout orders and previously idle crew members ran to their posts. The inter ship comm sparked to life, thousands of ship reporting status and coordinating their moves. In the distance hundreds of thousands of ships drop out of hyperspace, a mix of familiar Confederacy ships and the much lesser unknown ships that belongs to the so called Ssi Ruuk.

"Battle group E and F, move above the enemy, group D I want you to move below them. Do not get too close, we can't win a head on confrontation. Retreat if they press any attack," commanded Markious, "be extra careful of those unknown ships, we do not have data on their power."

Communication officers quickly relayed the order to the entire fleet, soon the assigned battle groups accelerated away from the main fleet. "Good, launch fighters." Almost immediately hundreds of fighters shot out from each ship's hangar, moving towards the front of the capital ships to form a defensive screen. "As soon as they come into range fire at will, do prepare for evasive maneuverers."

"Sir! The Ssi-ruuk's ships are broadcasting a message on all frequencies!"

"Bring it up."

"Be glad! The joy that we bring goes beyond mere sensory happiness. Yours is the privilege of assisting the Ssi-ruuk in liberating the other worlds of the galaxy."

"So they are called the Ssi-ruuk, those outer-rim rumors are correct after all," said Markious to himself.

"Enemy ships in range!" Interrupted a sensor officer.

"Open fire," ordered Markious, an unneeded command, as all ships had already taken the initiative to attack. Luminescent blue bolts of turbolaser shot from the fleet towards the enemy, the separatist are not stupid though. As soon as the Republic fleet opened fire the Separatist returned fire. Even when attacked from 3 different directions not a single Separatist ship broke formation. This can not be said for the Republic fleet though. Every single ship engaged their own evasive maneuvers, the advantage of having an organic crew.

"It is time to call in our surprise," said Markious with a smirk, "you won't be liberating this system Ssi-ruuk."

"All ship divert all shielding power to frontal shields,' ordered a T-series tactical droid, commander of this Separatist fleet sent to aid their new found ally, the Ssi-ruuk. A Separatist patrol found them tumbling out of wild space running away from something. That something had apparently followed the Ssi-ruuk out of wild space. The battle at Hekina proves that. TC-892A won't worry about that though, it had successfully driven them away, and destroying the Republic army on this planet is much more important.

"But sir, that would leave our back exposed," said a B-1 in their distinct voice.

"There are no enemy ship behind us, now route the power."

"Yes sir, power successfully routed," almost immediately blue turbolaser reached the fleet. Bolt after bolt impacted on the ship's shields but it held.

"Good, now send detachments to destroy the Republic ships that are pestering us from above and below."

"Sir! Republic ships dropping out of hyperspace!" Reported another B-1 battle droid.

"Where?"

"At our back sir, and they opened fire."

"Full power to weapons!" Shouted captain Omic, he was in charge of the 'surprise', an ambush involving battle groups G to J. For 18 hours he and his battle groups were waiting at the edge of the solar system. "Start accelerating towards these scum. Don't stop firing."

Blue turbolaser raced towards the stern of the Separatist fleet, Omic's battle groups following behind. Soon the bolts found their targets, the first volley overloading their shields and subsequent volleys vaporizing their hulls. Thousands of ships were gutted, their half molten wreckage floating in all directions.

The battle groups start to pick up momentum as the distance between the two fleets close. "Careful now, try not to ram any of their ships, we will pass straight through their formation," excitement clear in his voice.

"Who came up with this reckless strategy anyway?" Asked Omic's second in command, his nervousness evident.

"I suggested it of course!"

"We are suppose to hold off enemy invasion until reinforcement arrive at Zakssha, not attacking!"

"Come now, don't be such a coward, haven't you heard? The best defence is a good offence."

"Enemy ships are turning around," announced one officer, "they are preparing to return fire."

"Maintain course, do not slow down, and brace for impact!"

At such close range and speed there is no way for the Republic's ships to evade, luckily the aim of the Separatist was off. Given so little time to target most shots are blind shots, but this was compensated by the sheer volume of fire. In a blink of an eye Republic's ships was hit. The turbolasers failed to penetrate Omic's Mandator II-class star dreadnaught's shield. Smaller vessels of his fleet were not as fortunate. As the two fleets mixed a Venator to his ship's portside was hit and badly damaged, it then spiral out of control and collided with a Separatist frigate. Both ships exploded sending large chunks of hull and debris in all direction, some damaging other ships.

"Do not stop people. If we stop we will get vaporized by the Separatist!" Yelled Omic even when his ship, the _Dawn_,shake from another impact with large debris. Separatist and Ssi-ruuk fire volley after volley at the Republic ships, but it was no help at all. Traveling at high velocity and being in the midst of Separatist formation targeting Republic ship is extremely hard. More turbolaser hit friendly ships than Republic ships. Tens of thousands of Se[aratist and Ssi-ruuk ships were destroyed, mostly by friendly fire. The Republic however did not fare any better. Of the two hundred thousand ships that take part in this offensive thirty six thousand was already destroyed.

Suddenly an alarm started, red klaxons on the celling flashing, basking the bridge in red light.

"What's happening?"

"We are on a collision course with a destroyer! It is impossible to evade!" Shouted an officer over the noise.

"Brace yourselves!" As soon as Omic finished the entire ship shook like a house in an earthquake. Omic was thrown out of his seat, many other crew members suffered the same fate.

"Damage report."

"Shields down to ten percent, 4 shield generators blown, power conduit in section C-17 and C-22 overloaded," said a battered officer with blood on his face.

"How deep are we in enemy formation?"

"Almost half way to the front captain," replied the same officer.

"Then its time to leave, change course to zero eight ten, we will join battle groups E and F."

Markious look at the battle with satisfaction. The ambush worked, although at a high cost. For every Republic ship lost, six Separatist or Ssi-ruuk ships were destroyed. In this first engagement he already lost ten percent of his fleet, yet the Separatist's forces are barely touched.

"Sir, they are pushing the attack, their troop ships are following tight behind," reported a officer calmly.

Markious sighed, "ask all fleet elements to retreat, they are only to perform perform skirmishes, try to keep ship lost to a minimum."

"Yes sir," replied the officer before turning and relaying the order. Markious walked towards another communication officer and said, "please call Neimoxin, thank you."

"How goes the space battle admiral?" Asked Neimoxin over the comm.

"Results were good, but we simply do not have enough ships to deal significant damage to the enemy," replied Markious.

"I understand, just do your best to hold them off, reinforcement should arrive in 32 standard hours."

"I will," said Mrkious confidently, "the Separatist are going to land soon, don't you leave me alone up here you hear?"

"Of course I won't my friend," with that Neimoxin terminated the link.


	3. Chapter 2

"Yeah!" A chorus of cheers went off in the bridge of _Radiant Justice_ as another Ssi-ruuk ship exploded. Currently the two forces are engaged in maximum ranged combat. The invaders stopped trying to close the distance when they realized the Republic will always turn and retreat.

"Admiral!" Shouted a sensor officer, "you need to take a look at this."

"What is it?" Asked Markious as he walked towards the post of the officer.

"We are detecting 3 anomalies at these coordinates," said the officer, "we don't know what they are, but they are emitting a ridiculous amount of radiation and exotic particles, some of which we never knew exist and I'm pretty sure many more are not picked up."

"Strange, I do not know what they are, contact all ships in the vicinity of the anomaly, ask them to move away from it. Also try to get a visual on them."

Markious reached the communicator and press a button, soon a hologram of Neimoxin appeared. "Markious, is there any problem?" Asked Neimoxin.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you mid battle..." said Markious before Neimoxin cut him off, "oh don't worry I'm on my way to another battlefield, Ancouvos to be specific."

"As I was saying, we are detecting 3 weird anomalies, they are giving out a lot of radiation and exotic particles. I'm sending you the real time readings now."

"Is this some kind of Separatist or Ssi-ruuk weapon?"

"I doubt so..."

"Admiral we got a visual," said the officer, "I can't describe it, sending the visual now."

Both the jedi and the admiral look at the holovid captured by a Republic ship near the anomaly. In the middle of empty space there is a swirling cloud of... Something. It looked like an exceptionally colorful nebula, and their color and shape keep changing. The closest analogy Neimoxin could come up with is a swirling ball of smoke under disco light in a night bar.

"What is that?" Asked Neimoxin.

"I don't know... Dis you see that!?" Markious half shouted.

"See what?" Asked Neimoxin, his face showing a look of confusion.

"A face! I swear I see a face in the middle anomaly!"

"You are getting absurd Markious, there is nothing there, anyway..." Before Neimoxin could finish his sentence the anomalies half exploded. Tearing open what can only be called a hole in reality itself. Eldritch lightning shot out of the electric blue hole, some hit nearby debris, vaporizing them. Then without any warning something came out of the hole. First a golden glided prow appear, with a double headed predatory bird on top. Then came the body, boxy with innumerable gunports visible at the sides. Countless protruding spires were seen on both the top and bottom of the thing coming out. The 10 seconds it took for the thing to come out seems to last forever, everyone was at a lost for word.

Finally a sensor officer broke the silence, "the thing, its... its 24 kilometers long."

"Is it a ship?" Asked Markious softly, his face not hiding his shock.

"I think it is, quick ask all ships to get away from that thing. Do not fire upon it, I repeat, do not fire upon it," ordered Neimoxin. Just as he finished his sentence the two other anomalies also opened up and spit out two more ships., both 20 kilometers in length. The trio of ship immediately speed towards the Separatists.

"Try to contact them, we need to know who they are," said Neimoxin.

"General they are not responding to all our hails," said a communication officer after a while, "wait I'm picking up something, the ship, its sending out microwave signal in all directions."

"Play it," said Markious.

On the holoprojector what appears to be a human male came into view. Wearing a dark green cloak, black clothes and gray pants plus a black hat. On his chest the same golden double headed predatory bird appeared, sewen into his clothes, below that is a stylized 'I' with a skull in the middle. Guns and other devices of unknown purpose hung from his belt, to make his form even more imposing, or rather, threatening, a massive finely crafted sword with multiple artworks and a skull at its guard latched on the inquisitor.

The man stood there for a moment before he spoke in galactic basic, "I am lord inquisitor Anzio from the Ordo Xenos of the Imperium of Man, aid us and you may be spared death, oppose us and you you will soon feel the wrath of the Emperor and his holy armies. _Ave Imperator_." His cold and emotionless tone coupled with his steely gaze make it even more threatening, some crew members even flinched when this so called inquisitor spoke. They felt like the bringer of death himself had spoken.

Who is this Anzio? What is an inquisitor? Who is this Emperor? What is the Ordo Xeno? A million question ran through Neimoxin's mind. This mysterious person's ships are heading straight towards the Separatist, a cluster of Ssi-ruuk warships to be accurate, they are apparently ignoring the Republic's fleet, could they actually help us?

"Markious, try to hail them with microwave signals, they might not use hyperspace transmissions," said Neimoxin.

"What kind of primitives use microwaves instead of hyperspace transmissions?"

"Just do it," said Neimoxin with a stern voice.

"Very well," replied Markious before relaying the order, a few moments passed before he turned back to the jedi and exclaimed, "they are replying!"

"Good patch me through."

"Stabilizing connection... Wait... There!" Said a smiling communication officer.

"Hello inquisi... Inquisitor Anzio I am jedi general Neimoxin of the Galactic Republic," greeted the jedi, "may I know who you are and why are you here? Greeting everyone in system with threats isn't really the nicest thing to do."

"Those are not threats, those are promises." The inquisitor's tone can only be described as unnerving. Even Neimoxin, a master jedi, was affected.

"I... See," replied Neimoxin, these people certainly aren't good with diplomacy, "may I ask, why are you here? As you can see this is a war zone, it is wise to not head towards those ships, they are hostile."

"Who do you think we are?" Said Anzio with a laugh, and with a 180 degree change in tone he continued, "traders? _That is not that far from the truth._ Oh shut up captain. As I had said, I am an inquisitor, servant of the Emperor. These hostile ships belong to the Ssi-ruuk, and it is my duty to destroy them."

"Destroy them? Why?"

"These are foul xenos that use warp sorcery, they are abominations that taint the galaxy. To let them live is like letting cancer go unchecked. There is only one single option when dealing with threats such as this, complete eradication."

Neimoxin frown at that, the hatred disgust behind those words troubled him greatly, but to prevent unnecessary friction Neimoxin Ignored the statement.

"Xenos? Warp sorcery?"

"Topics to discuss on another date. Now we must focus on brining these xenos down, the Emperor protects." The transmission was cut as soon as the last word left the inquisitor's mouth, leaving the jedi lost and confused.

"Markious, continue to monitor the new arrival's actions, record everything. The jedi co... _Brace for impact!_"

"Neimoxin? Neimoxin!"

"Admiral, the general's transport was hit, they had crash landed just out of Ancouvos." One of the officers reported.

"He'll be fine, he always is. Keep a close eye on those Imperials, record anything we can, I don't want to be kept in the dark. Also continue our engagement with the Separatist, no reason to slack behind while some random fanatics fight the battle for us. We are the Republic and we will not appear to be weak, is that clear?" Satisfied by the chorus of yessir Markious sit back down and read through the data gathered about the Imperials.

_Hmm, interesting_ thought Markious _unknown material making up the hull, a kark load of decorative art pieces, too much I would say, and that is a lot of precious metal. Are these people obsessed with gold or something? Massive gun ports, not surprising compared to its size, but still, those barrels are MASSIVE. What else lets see... Bio scan... By the force... _

"Are these figures correct? The human life signature I mean, are the scans accurate?"

"It is not exact, there are too many organisms onboard, but I would say its a pretty accurate estimation," came the reply.

_Over two hundred million, two fifty by estimation, that is more people than some planet's entire population! Given the size of the ship its probably reasonable but still, that is a kriff load of crew! The general's decision of not engaging seems so wise now. Wait..._

"Why are we not getting anymore data?" Markious asked no one in particular.

"Sir, something is blocking our scans, we can't penetrate it. Some sort of shield I believe."

"Try to use hyperspace scanners, we need to have a basic idea about their reactor classification." _If these people use hypermatter reactor core that is, still can't identify their mode of travel. Something for the science team to work on then._

"Sir its not working, we still can't get anything solid. We can be almost certain that the ships does not utilize hypermatter reactors though."

"Very well, stop the active scanning of the ships, focus on collecting intel about their weapons and tactics. I believe they will be engaging the Separatist soon. If we are to fight them one day I don't want to be fighting blind."

* * *

"Captain Siro, please do not interrupt me while I speak to these heretics," said Anzio in light hearted tone. The inquisitor was standing on the bridge of the Eternal Trader, a highly customized battleship. Beside the inquisitor sat the captain on his command throne. Wires and machineries surround and merge with the captain, making him seem more machine than man. All the captain's remaining organic body parts are whithered, no doubt a result of his long years of services.

"Very well inquisitor, but you do know lying is bad eh?" Came the reply in a voice not one would expect from a withered old man with more bionics and machineries than flesh. Rather the voice was strong, a voice one would expect a man in his prime to have

"Focus on purging the enemies of the Emperor, you can have fun with your antics later."

"As you wish."

"I will be going planet side to complete our mission here. I need you to bring us close enough for a drop. I believe the forces I requested are ready?"

"They are ready to follow you to the warp and back my lord."

"Good, I will be leaving now. I await news of your success."

"Good luck down there inquisitor, may the Emperor be with you."

"You too captain, the Emperor protects." With that Anzio left the bridge to prepare for the upcoming battle.

"You heard him people!" Siro's voice boomed across the bridge, "today is the day these xenos learn the wrath of the Emperor! Void shields up! Forward lance ready, target the greatest concentration of ships and fire once in range!" The later boomed across all vox channel throughout the Eternal Trader and her two grand cruiser companion. Satisfied with all the officers moving to perform their duty to the best of their ability Siro smiled, at least what a cyborg with half his face replaced by wiring and metal could manage.

Seeing as the enemy would soon come into range of the lance weaponries Siro merged himself with the ship, and they became one. He no longer need to read combat data off a cogitator, nor do he need to listen to officers reporting the situation, for he and the ship's powerful machine spirit is one. What the sensors sensed he knew, he felt the electrifying feeling as the void shields came online. He felt the energy radiating outwards as the plasma reactors increase their output in preparation of the soon approaching battle. _This is going to be fun_ he thought.

"We are in range! Lance batteries fire!" Captain Siro's voice resounded across the entire room.

"Target acquired, firing." Said some officer, an unnecessary comment, but it gave people a sense of what is happening. Great lances ripped through the void at immense speed striking clusters of Ssi-ruuk and Separatist starships, the lances cut through ships like hot knife through butter. The shields and durasteel armor of the ships provided almost no protection at all. Those ships that were hit burst into flames as entire decks were voided. Others are simply vaporized as their hypermatter reactors were breached. Droid and Ssi-ruuk crews were pulled out into the cold unforgiving void, their silent screams unheard.

The enemy of the Imperium would not go down quietly however, most never did. Volley after volley of turbolaser was redirected towards the Eternal Trader and her companions. Fighter after fighter pour out of the ships like angry wasps, soon the space between them was filled with enough droid fighters to block out the local sun. Powerful turbolaser bolts neared the Imperial ships, ready to claim them for defying the might of the Separatist and the Ssi-ruuk Imperium. But it was not to be. The bolts were stopped dead in their tracks by the even more powerful void shields. Denied their prize more and more firepower was redirected away from the small Republic fleet towards the new intruders.

"All void shields are holding, it seems that the enemy haven't learnt their lesson yet."

"Do not be so sure, the battle had just started, prepare for broadsides and launch torpedoes!" Came Siro's voice. He felt the ship's machine spirit groaned in anticipation as the massive torpedoes were loaded and the macrocannons were readied. Ignoring the annoying stings of turbolasers impacting against the void shields Siro politely request the machine spirits to acquire firing solutions for the torpedoes. One should always be polite and careful when requesting services from the machine spirits, least risking angering them and bring undesirable consequences. Banks upon banks of cogitators and logic servitors process the vast amount of data to find the optimum firing trajectory. Soon a solution was acquired and Siro ordered the torpedoes to be launched.

"My lord enemy fighters are closing, should we launch our own?"

"Nay, there are too much incoming enemy fire, even their own fighters are straining to stay out of the way. Plus they outnumbered us by too much. I will not risk losing our fighters."

"Yes my lord, as always your wisdom is unsurpassed."

"Get back to work you maggot! You can praise me all you want after the battle!" Siro fumed. He hated these new officers, no doubt hailing from one of the noble families. Always trying to please him by praises, not that he don't like praises, but a man must have priorities.

"The macrocann are in range lord," came another voice.

"Give them a well deserved broadside! Fire at that fat cluster of xeno scum!" With his command the innumerable gun emplacements opened fire and spat death towards the unfortunate group of Separatist vessels. The macrocannon shells crossed the vast distance of empty void with surprising speed. They struck against the Separatist ships and detonated, ripping the smaller ships into shreds. A massive Subjugator-class managed to survive the onslaught and returned fire, but it would not last long. Another angry barrage of shells and torpedoes silence it for good. The same story repeated itself across the void, and the trio of Imperial ships approached the planet prepared to drop off their deadly cargo.

* * *

"Sir, we lost another 6 squadrons of frigates," droned the monotone of a B1 battle droid.

"Sir, our fighters are being shot down by the thousands, they can't do anything against those shields," came the voice of another B1 stationed on the bridge.

"Sir turbolasers are not effective against those shields." The bridge was a mess, each droid reported something different. A normal organic commander would not be able to make out anything, but TC-892A is not a normal organic commander. It was a T series tactical droid, processing the information with extreme speed it finally give a command.

"Quiet, I need to formulate a strategy," TC-892A do not need to shout, the entire bridge immediately fall into silence. Processing all available data it finally formulate a strategy.

"The inquisitor focus on the Ssi-ruuk's ships, pull out ships away."

"But sir, our orders are to help the Ssi-ruuk."

"Shut up, I am not finished, pull battle groups 14 to 55 out of their assigned space. All of them are to focus fire on the inquisitor's ships. I calculated a 64.3% chance that this would cripple their ships. This way the Ssi-ruuk will be saved."

"Roger roger."

* * *

_Holy kriff these imperials mean business. Missiles half the length of corvettes!? These people must be crazy! Who would even THINK of building missiles that big? Point defence are useless against those monsters. Their other weaponries are also interesting, weapons that shoot solid explosive slugs. Primitive if I only heard it, but seeing it ripping apart separatist tells me otherwise._

"Admiral?" The call of the officer brought Markious out of his musings. Turning to face the man he asked, "what is it?"

"The separatist are pulling ships away from our left flank, it appears they are called to attack the Imperials."

"Really? Good, how many ships do we have left."

After a moment of silence another officer replied, "last count leave us with 27,419 ships. One of our Mandator IIs was also crippled."

Markious grimaced, they had lost a lot of ships today, too much, but they need to fight on until reinforcements arrive. "How long before our reinforcement arrive?"

"They will reach us in about 12 hours."

"Just hold on a little longer boys, we are almost there. Now gather all the surviving battle capable ships from our left flank. We are going to do another assault run. Flank the separatist while they are engaging the imperials."

* * *

"Void shields one, two and Five down!"

Siro raged, these throne damned xenos! They learnt their lessons fast. Lone battle groups could not hope to penetrate even one of the Eternal Trader's powerful void shields. Now they massed 42 battle groups against him! The machine spirit groaned in pain as another massive volley of turbolaser impacted against the void shields. They had almost reached the planet, that was some good news. Although it is still preferable to keep the void shields up though, no point to let the xenos blast away the magnificent art pieces that adorned the Imperium's ships. Keeping that in mind Siro contacted archmagos Sinclair, head of the Adeptus Mechanicus's followers on the Eternal Trader.

+Archmagos Sinclair+ Siro sent the message in binary, for the convenience of the archmagos. Of course Siro never actually learnt how to speak in binary, he was no tech-priest after all. The ship's machine spirit helped him to translate his thoughts into binary.

+Yes?+ Came the reply similarly in binary, with the help of the machine spirit Siro could understood the follower of the machine cult, the venerable machine spirit even translated the tone. Although Siro did not knew how it did it but he was grateful anyway.

+Could you shorten the time the void shield generator take to recycle?+

+Will try, machine spirits not cooperative, will take time before appeasement+

+Do your best archmagos, thankyou+

+I will+ With that the archmagos cut the link. _Always the one for maximum efficiency_ Siro mused _not even wasting time and energy to speak in full sentences._ Even though the entire conversation lasted for less than a fraction of a second. The ship's machine spirit shook with glee as a torpedo and lance battery barrage turned the last Ssi-ruuk starship between them and the planet into a rapidly expanding field of radioactive debris and atomic dust. _Finally._

* * *

"Welldone captain, break orbit if you must, but make sure to keep these scum off our back. I do not want an orbital bombardment to ruin the day," Anzio said over the vox while walking towards a raised command and control platform in the center of the circular room . He was now clad in his ancient archeotech power armor but he still kept his cloak on. Around him more guardsmen moved around, getting into their own pods.

These are not normal guardsmen however, they are powered infantry. Veteran guardsmen and women that had proven themselves in battle were gathered and further trained. Then the best are selected to gain the honor of wearing one of these suits of power armor. Although the power armor these guardsmen wore weren't anywhere near the level of an Astarte's holy power armor, it still provides much more protection and other benefits over the standard issue flak armor. This design, know as the CMC-3400 powered combat suit was the only mass produced power armor design. For it was discovered in a severely damaged standard template construct. Even so it was still rare enough that only the most hardened guardsmen got the chance to fight in one.

"Are the Arco-Flagellants loaded?" Asked Anzio as he reached the platform. A tech-priest that was busily reciting prayers to the machine spirits turned around, "yes lord inquisitor, they are loaded and ready to launch." Came the reply in a mechanical voice.

"Good, launch their pods first. Land them at these areas," pointing at several location on a hololithic display, "they are to kill all enemy in the vicinity and destroy all anti-air batteries. Is that clear?"

"Understood my lord, shall I launch them now?"

"Yes, once they have cleared the anti-air guns launch the rest of the pods."

"The pods containing the Arco-Flagellants are launched my lord."

Anzio smiled, _its about time to teach these xenos the Emperor's fury_, before he headed towards his drop pod and waited for the drop. _Ah, another example of our ancestor's genius, drop pods that allow normal humans to survive orbital drops_.

* * *

Hangar A13 was packed to the brim. Dozens of massive landing shuttle lay dormant on the hangar floor, not for long though. Imperial guardsmen and women shuffled through the tight spaces towards their designated transport. Hangar crew members hauled supplies towards the shuttles and loaded them. Quiet prayers were said and litanies recited. Tech-priest performed final checks and rites to ensure the machine spirits remain cooperative throughout the mission. At last a voice boomed from the loud hailers across the hangar, "all shuttles prepare for deployment, launch position will be reached in 5 minutes."

As soon as the announcement was over all remaining personnels finished what they are currently doing and moved out of the hangars. Shuttles retrieved their ramps, sealed their doors and powered up. Only a few highly augmented tech-priest remained to ensure a smooth deployment. Soon enough klaxons screamed to life and bathed the hangar in red light. The atmosphere was quickly vented and everything fell silent. The seconds tick by until suddenly the hangar door opened and revealed the planet below. Covered by patches of orange vegetation and blue oceans it was a rare sight too see in the Imperium, for most planets had their ecosystems destroyed by countless centuries of industrial pollution and war. A tech-priest punched a button with his mechadendrite and the lights turned green, taking notice the shuttles liftoff and shot out the hangar towards the planet below.

"How do you think they will look like?" Asked lieutenant Craig as the shuttle he was on rumbled. A tall and muscular man showing too many scars to count, as with the rest of the guards. Lieutenant Craig was in charged of his elite special force platoon, the Vagan's 36th special force. He and his men fought and survived countless battles, proving themself worthy time and time again. For the past few years they are attached to inquisitor Anzio, and they trust the inquisitor with their life.

"Probably some mutated abomination with tentacles, they use chaos sorcery after all," said Jeff, the platoon's second in command.

"I doubt it, the warp here is much calmer, their corruption shouldn't reach the level of a spawn," Alyssa, the platoon's primaris psyker chimed in.

"We will know soon enough, lets hope my chainsword will cut through them like everything else," joined Elkum, the platoon's attached commissar. The rest of the men did not fear him like normal imperial guardsmen, for the commissar's bolt pistol had not been pointed towards the head of anyone in the platoon for years. There was simply no need to.

"They will Elkum, no xenos can stand against the Emperor's wrath and live, and I think it is time for us to pray," said Jusmo, a priest from the Ecclessiarchy, before lowering his head and lead the prayer before battle.

* * *

Swift and Box Head slowly crept over to the edge of the cliff, making as little noise as possible least they alert the enemy.

"Kriff, that is a lot of ruuks," whispered Box Head while looking down.

"Not to mention the clankers," Swift whispered back, "we need to report this to Buzz."

"Will do," replied Box Head before raising his arm and tap on his comm unit, "commander sir, we have located a large concentration of Separatist and Ssi-ruuk forces at our location."

"We can't deal with them now, they launched a massive attack just a few moments ago, it will be hard to hold off this wave. Remain -_BOOM_- at your position and stay hidden, there are too many between you and us."

"But sir, we can help," protested Box Head.

"You are only two troopers, two darn good troopers, but still only two. Stay there and report any further activities, that's an order. Are we clear?"

"Crystal sir."

"Good luck," said Buzz before cutting the comm.

"Damn they launched another attack so soon after the last," commented Swift.

"Just hope Buzz... Swift look, what is that," said Box Head before pointing skyward. Above their heads dozens of dots streaked across the blue sky leaving a burning trail in their wake.

"Debris? Or maybe escape pods, can't be sure," said Swift while pulling down his macrobinoculars.

"Oh kriff, some of them are heading towards us, we need to go now."

"Relax Box, the trajectory calculations showed that they will not hit us, the Seppies are going to hurt a lot though."

Box Head give a short laugh, "as if the clankers feel pain."

The Separatist and Ssi-ruuk took notice too, but by then it was too late. The drop pods raced towards the ground at neck-breaking speed but just before it reached the treeline thrusters fired up. Large gouts of flame slowed the drop pods before it impacted the ground with enough force to send surrounding droids tumbling into the dirt. Just as the dust settled the pods burst open, its giant metallic parts flew out crushing even more droids.

"Holy Fett..." From the drop pods emerge creatures of nightmare. These creatures look humanoid, they stood on two legs, had two arms and a head, but there was where similarities end. The creatures do not had skin, it was as if some sadistic person skinned these creatures alive leaving their muscle exposed to the air. Their arms are mutilated beyond believe, their biological arm was severed at the elbow, and below that was replaced with metal. Metallic whips and razor sharp circular shears. Upon their head sat a helmet, covering half their face, where the eyes should had been mechanical lenses sat, shining a deep angry red. Masses of syringes, wires and other machinery covered their back and other body parts. Clear signs of torture and fighting laid bare upon their broken body.

EEEEEEERRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

An ear piercing scream ran across the clearing, a scream of a tortured soul experiencing pain beyond comprehension. The arco-flagellants' electroflails and industrial shears sparked to life, blue energy coursing through the flails and the shears screeching, eager to draw blood. The monstrosities surged out and ran at the surrounding droids and Ssi-ruuks at immense speed, screaming and shouting in agony while flinging their weapons wildly. Before anyone could comprehend the situation the arco-flagellants reached them. Electroflails meet flesh and shears meet metal, droid after droid, Ssi-ruuk after Ssi-ruuk were torn to pieces. Bisected body parts flew around the battlefield, the flagellants were spinning storms of death. Droids and Ssi-ruuk soldiers soon came to their senses and returned fire. Yet the tortured penitents refused to die, pumped with dangerous levels of combat drug they continue to fight even when they received wounds that would kill a mortal man. A Ssi-ruuk fired shots at a rampaging flagellant and managed to severed a arm, but the flagellant continued its path and slammed into the unfortunate soldier, cutting him apart with shears before turning its attention to the P'w'eck beside. The scene repeated itself across a dozen sites in the surrounding area, decimating Separatist and Ssi-ruuk forces alike.

"Force preserve us, what sort of abomination are these?" Asked a petrified Swift.

"I... Don't know..." Replied Box Head, turning his head away from the carnage Box Head activate his comm again.

"Anything to report?" Came the voice of Buzz.

"Yes sir, we saw... We saw..."

"You saw what Box Head? Are you alright?"

"Sorry sir, just a few minutes ago what appears to be escape pods drop from orbit. They dropped into the enemy before unloading abominations."

"Come again? Escape pods unloading what?"

"I don't know what they are sir, they appear humanoid with a lot of mechanical implants, they attacked the seppies and ruuks onsight. Its not pretty, trust me."

"Okay Box Head, might be the Imperials. Heard from the fleet that they managed to make it to low orbit."

"Imperials sir?"

"Ah I forgotten you are not here. A new faction entered the fray, for now they appeared to be on our side."

"Do they know we are friendlies? Cause I am very sure I do not want one of those monster charging at me, those things refuse to die even when they loose limbs!"

"Will ask high command Box, stay out of sight for now."

"Okay commander, I"

Buzz interrupted, "I just received word, general Neimoxin is 3 clicks west of your position, you may want to rally with him. His shuttle crashed sometime ago."

"Will do commander," Box Head said before the link was cut, "looks like we have something to do now."

"Lets go, the further away we get from these things the better," said Swift.

"Agreed." As the two clone troopers move away from their position they failed to notice more drop pods falling from the sky and the swarm of shuttles that follow. Their day is going to get very interesting very soon.


End file.
